Patchwork and Quilting in Bampton

BAMPTON COMMUNITY ARCHIVE EXHIBITION CATALOGUE

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Patchwork & Quilting in Bampton BAMPTON COMMUNITY ARCHIVE PRESENTS

Patchwork & Quilting in Bampton

Monday January 13th - Thursday Feb 27th 2020 IN THE VESEY ROOM OF THE BAMPTON LIBRARY Monday - Saturday 10.30am - 12.30pm

2.00pm - 4.00pm

Sunday 2.00pm - 4.00pm

‘Patchwork’ and ‘Quilting’?

Grant aided by WODC

ADMISSION FREE

Scribble Cockerel - Julie Watson

This exhibition was organised for ‘Bampton Community Archive’ with the primary aim of recording the Quilters and Patchworkers, who in 2020, continue these traditional crafts in the village, and also to display examples of their work. Also by explaining a little about the history and techniques of the crafts it is also hoped the exhibition will encourage more ‘Bamptonians’ to take up a needle - either fixed to a machine or in their hand, and embark on their own voyage of discovery. Go on, have a try, because as quilters always say ‘It is only a running stitch!’

The terms Patchwork and Quilting are usually linked together as if they were one craft, whereas they are two quite separate crafts, each with their own history, and this exhibition contains examples of both.

‘Patchwork’ is the creation of a new piece of fabric, by hand or machine, and is usually achieved by cutting up pieces of material and ‘piecing’ them together, to form a decorative pattern, as in Jane Barnes very topical ‘Little Women’ quilt (2) or by ‘applying’ or appliquéing different colours of material to a backing to create a picture or pattern, as in the bright and bold ’Seaside Quilt’ (16) by Julie Watson, or it can be a combination of both, and other techniques.

The resulting new piece of material may later be stitched to a warm batting material and backed with another piece of fabric - if so, it is the actual stitches that combine these layers together that constitute the separate craft of ‘Quilting’.

These ‘quilting’ stitches can be just a few simple decorative hand stitches, as seen in the striking example of ‘Japanese Sashiko Wall-Hanging’ (3) by Pat Barratt, or they can be the many thousands of hand stitches in the exquisitely appliquéd and quilted ‘Love Entwined’ (8) quilt by Judith House.

Daphne Stewart’s ‘Suo Gan Cot Cover’ (14) is an example of the craft of ‘Quilting’ without patchwork, . This is a charming example of a quilted ‘whole-cloth’, meaning it was made from a single piece of material, where the decorative quilting stitches alone provide the pattern.

Jane Wallis (Jan 2020)

This list gives information on the ’16 Bampton Patchworkers & Quilters’ and their numbered items on display. All other work is individually labelled.

Diana Alcock 1. ’Red & Green’ double quilt, log cabin (and other shapes to get to the size wanted) hand pieced and hand quilted.

The quilt took around 18 months to make, most of it sewn during an 18 month stay in Scotland. As it was hand-sewn it kept me warm as I sat in front of a log fire in a draughty room. I had no pattern as I like to be free, choosing colours and patterns is part of the enjoyment.

I have been quilting for over 10 years having learnt at Linda Kerswill’s classes via her ‘Cotton Club’ shop. I am pleased to say that I have made quilts for my grandchildren and other relatives, as well as for the Linus Charity. The best part is planning a new quilt!

Jane Barnes 2. ’Little Women Quilt’, machine pieced and quilted, designed by Sue Maddox based on the book ‘Little Women’ by Louisa M. Alcott.

In this quilt successive three or four blocks describe a scene or quotation from each chapter. The story unfolds following a clockwise spiral from top left hand corner to the centre. I enjoyed doing it though some of the pieces are very small. It encouraged me to start a ‘Dear Jane’ quilt by hand.

I have been quilting for ten years. I began with hand quilting classes at the ‘Cotton Club’ run by Linda Kerswill and then a machine quilting course run by Sue Maddox.

I attend a quilting group in Alvescot every Monday morning and meet with a small group of quilters in Bampton every fortnight and a ‘Dear Jane’ group in Wallingford once a month.

Pat Barratt 3. ’Sashiko Wall-hanging’ - hand pieced & quilted This wall-hanging was made following a 1996 ‘Buttercross Quilters’ workshop on the Japanese art of Sashiko.

Pat has been quilting since 1986, when her first ever piece was a double bed sized ‘Whole-cloth’ wedding quilt. When asked what quilting had meant to her life Pat said that it took up all of her spare time, but that she valued it most as a social hobby, something she could do whilst being with others as she never liked ‘sitting at a sewing machine by myself’. She was a founder member of the quilting club, that later became ‘Buttercross Quilters’ in Witney.

Jane Chapman 4. Mariners Compass Quilt, machine pieced and hand quilted, This quilt which uses the American technique of ‘foundation’ paper piecing was started under the tutoring of Sheena Roberts at a Summer School in 2015, it was finished in Feb 2016. This was my first major piece of work as my quilting journey started just two years previously under the guidance of the same tutor, my first piece was a simple 4 block sampler quilt. Since then I have expanded my skills and now enjoy all types of traditional patchwork and quilting techniques.

Since moving to Bampton, four and half years ago, I have made many new quilting friends, we enjoy regular meetings to patchwork and quilt together in each other’s homes.

I also joined ‘Buttercross Quilters’ in Witney, a group of enthusiastic quilters for whom it has been my privilege to Chair since 2017. I am also the regional Treasurer for the Quilters Guild. I fully believe that being involved in patchwork and quilting is a very enriching hobby and brings with it the best of friends.

Jane Edwards 5. Cushion-cover, machine pieced I made this cushion-cover using the leftover strips after making a Bargello quilt whilst living in France in 2018. Considering I have only recently moved to Bampton I am very happy to be part of this exhibition, and am looking forward to a lot more quilting in the future.

Jean Gray 6. ’Bar Jelly Quilt’ using Kaffe Fasset fabric, machine pieced and quilted using Westerlee rulers.

My Mam taught me to sew from an early age, so I made all my own clothes throughout my teens We lived in America for three years in the nineties, and it was there where I started to quilt. I did various courses; learning to use a rotary cutter, machine piercing and quilting, then specific quilt classes: ‘Amish’ ‘Lone Star’ ‘Log Cabin’ ‘Double Wedding Ring’.

We moved to Bampton 1999 where to my delight there was a quilt shop, in fact Linda Kerswill, who owned this shop later became my next door neighbour.

I belong to a little group of ladies who sew on alternate Thursday afternoon in Bampton, and also eat cake. I belonged to Buttercross Quilters for a few years then decided to teach myself from books. I love bright coloured quilts although I have made a few traditional ones as well.

Jill Hall 7. Bargello-work sample 51”x36” one quarter of a full quilt, 2009.

I started hand patchwork and quilting whilst living in Florida in the late 1990s and continued on return to the UK with classes at ‘Village Fabrics’ and turned to machine piecing and hand quilting. Moving to Bampton in 2005 I joined ‘Buttercross Quilters’ and took classes at the ‘Cotton Club’ and enjoyed another 10 years of active patchwork and quilting but am now doing much less. I prefer piecing to appliqué work.

Judith House 8. ’Love Entwined’ hand appliqué and hand quilted.

This adaptation of the historic 1790 Marriage Coverlet Quilt, designed by Averil Colby took three years to finish and is entirely stitched by hand. The pattern is called ‘Love Entwined but I have adapted the design in several areas which makes the work unique. I so enjoy the process of hand stitching and derive enormous pleasure from all the different challenges in a piece of work such as this. Every minute was enjoyed and although it is finished I still have the temptation to pick it up again and carry on hand-quilting!

I have been quilting for about 20 years, my introduction was by chance as when I passed the ‘Cotton Club’ shop, when it was situated in Rosemary Lane, a notice for a vacancy on a beginners course in Black Bourton, led by Suzie Betteridge, was being pinned on the door. I mentioned it was something I would love to do and was sent home with the telephone number to ring at once! Since then I have loved all Patchwork, Quilting and Appliqué but always by hand, never machine. To me, the whole essence of quilting is the hand stitching.

I enjoy being part of a fun, peaceful and chatty group of quilters within the village. It has been going for many years and it has seen quilters come and go, including Molly Dunbar, Betty Smith and Sue Maddox.

Celia Humphreys 9. ’Nine Block Sampler Quilt’ machine pieced. Quilted with my design by ‘Chestnuts Quilting Services’, Norfolk.

This quilt was started in a nine week course run by the ‘Cotton Club’. Unfortunately our classes folded before the nine weeks classes had been completed due to the closure of the shop. I thoroughly enjoyed the classes and meeting new people, as my husband and I had recently moved to Bampton.

Every block has its own unique finished, Note the tulips on the outer border of the quilt, for my love of gardening. My particular favourite is the centre block ‘The Cotswold Barn’. This has been stitched to represent a church, appropriate for our vicarage family, as before we came to Bampton to retire my husband had been the vicar of Blenheim Benefice.

Jo Hutchings 10. ’Block of the Month’ king size quilt, mainly machine appliquéd and pieced, and long arm quilted by Barbara Sutcliffe of ‘Fir Tree Quilting’ This large quilt was a ‘Block of the Month’ project from ‘Village Fabrics’ in Wallingford. I came to Bampton in 2001, and took up quilting around 2004. I had always wanted to learn the craft and was delighted to find there were classes available at ‘The Cotton Club’ in the village.

I belong to a small friendly quilting group that meets at Bampton Chapel Room on Fridays at 10am, and new members, whether beginners or experienced quilters, would be very welcome.

Detail

Margaret Joseph 11. Patchwork table centre, machine pieced and quilted.

As a fairly new quilter I made a few of these squares to practice various techniques. The design and quilting is very simple but they gave me the confidence to progress to making lap quilts for my daughters and granddaughters..... I am now hooked!

I have been quilting, self taught, for 5 years, inspired by a quilting exhibition I went to when in America. The quilts were stunning and I decided to have a go myself. I bought books and magazines and set to work.

I find it very relaxing (except when you make a mistake) and I love the thought that I have made something unique for loved ones.

Margaret Metcalfe 12. ’Sun Voyager’ wall hanging, 90% machine appliquéd with hand embroidery and fabric paint.

I created this wall hanging after my husband took me to Iceland in 2017 for my 70th birthday to see the Northern Lights (which we did!!!). I had taken a photograph and my husband thought it would make a quilt. I have never made an art quilt before so it was quite a challenge but am very pleased with it and that is why it is now framed so I can keep it safe on a wall!!

I started my quilting obsession when I moved to North Wales in 2000. Until then I had only ever made clothes or curtains. I met a Welsh Quilter called Gwyneth Ellis at a sewing group in the village where we lived, and she taught me everything I know and helped me to make my first quilt, which was a Log Cabin design for a king size bed. She inspires me to this day, and from then on I never looked back, and I love it even more than I did then.

I am a past Chair of ‘Buttercross Quilters’ in Witney, and am now the regional Coordinator for ‘Project Linus’, which is a charity that donates quilts to any child in need where the ‘hug’ of their very own special quilt would help.

Lynne Pointer 13. ’Japanese Kaleidoscope’ machine pieced and ‘stitch in the ditch’ quilted, 80cm square, 2015 A friend and I saw this “Kaleidoscope” design in an exhibition and decided to try the technique. It takes a lot of fabric, as 6 layers of the fabric are placed, with the design accurately on top of one another, and then equilateral triangles are cut through all 6 layers.

These are then pieced into hexagons resembling a kaleidoscope.

Because I did not have enough fabric for the 6 repeats, I had to use 3 layers and then assemble the hexagons with two similar halves for my quilt. The borders and backing were of other japanese inspired prints featuring waves.

I have been quilting on and off for some 60 years since my mother started me off with a simple hand sewn “Granny’s Garden” design for a cushion cover. Although there was a long gap of 20 years when I did very little quilting, but I have sewn more in the last 15 years.

My next major projects are one involving a lot of strip piecing, Kaffe Fasset’s “Kelim” design, and a project adding hand-sewn hexagons to a quilt my mother started in the 1950s and which was forgotten in an aunt’s attic for many years. It has been interesting sourcing fabrics with which to complete it, as not only designs but also dyes have changed a lot in the last 60 years.

Daphne Stewart 14. ’Suo Gan’ a Whole-Cloth Cot Quilt, 31in x 43in approx, hand quilted from a design

by Sandie Lush, made over 7 months (160 hours approx.)

Wholecloth quilting is done completely by hand and is a traditional way of making warm covers; they are usually stitched on large frames, but I prefer a quilting hoop. Two regions of the UK have particularly strong traditions of whole-cloth quilting; Wales and the North East of England, each of which with their own particular style.

This was the first Wholecloth quilt I made, I enjoy the simplicity of having the basic tools of cotton, batting, a needle and thread and letting the magic happen.

This type of quilting is easy for me to just pick up and go, with the ability to continue where I left off very easily. The pattern, copied by light box on to the fabric by pencil or fabric markers makes the pattern very easy to follow.

The backing material used on this quilt is William Morris in honour of living just down the road from Kelmscott Manor, his summer home.

The name of the design is ‘Suo Gan’, is the name of a Welsh lullaby, a mother singing to her child to give assurance that all is well, and she is there. I love the story behind the design of the quilting patterns. This one in particular is one of my favourite pieces of music which I have known for years.This music was also used as the theme song for the film Empire Of The Sun. A haunting melody.

Jane ‘A’ Wallis 15. ʻDear Janeʼ, hand pieced and quilted after the original design of Jane A Stickle.

Being another ‘Jane A’ I had to have a go at my version of Jane A Stickle’s historic quilt made in 1863, during the American Civil War. Among its 5602 pieces, my ‘Dear Jane’ contains many ‘memory materials’ from my own, daughters and granddaughters dresses and even scraps from my kitchen curtains c.1966. I loved working on it and felt bereft when it was finished. It took me several years to make, largely because I kept changing my mind about its final lay-out - this meant unpicking it back to the basic blocks and starting again - twice, but I felt it was all worth it in the end, especially as it was voted the ‘Visitor’s Choice’ at both the Buttercross Quilt Show and the Regional Quilter’s Guild Show in 2018 and 2019.

I had been an occasional quilter for many years but like others when we moved to Bampton I rekindled my passion by attending classes organised at the‘Cotton Club’ shop in the village. I am on the Committee of the ‘Buttercross Quilters’ Club in Witney, and a member of Alvescot Quilters, and also part of a small quilting group in the village.

Julie Watson 16. ’Seaside Quilt’ Machine appliquéd. Foundation pieced mariners compass in the centre, and Long arm quilted by Karen Florey of ‘The Running Chicken’.

I have been quilting for ten years and I learned the technique for the centre of this quilt from the ‘Cotton Club’ many years ago. I am a member of Buttercross Quilters in Witney and have made quilts for the Linus charity.

Note: the bright and vibrant cockerel featured on the poster, is a further example of Julie’s work. This technique of ‘Scribble Quilting’ was taught by Gail Lowther at a recent ‘Quilters Guild’ workshop.

Special mention It can be seen that without Linda Kerswill the list of exhibitors in this exhibition would be much smaller. Based in her ‘Cotton Club’ quilting shop Linda organised classes, led by Lynne Johnson, Sue Maddox, Steph Venn and Jane Willis, amongst others, and introduced new beginners to the crafts and also advanced the techniques of the more experienced patchwork and quilters.

Lynne Johnson (left) and Linda Kerswill ‘closely examine’ a quilt in the ‘Cotton Club’ shop, Bampton

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Bampton Patchworkers & Quilters who have left us Dinah Green, late of the Old Chapel, Buckland Road, whose unfinished quilt, dating from the 1960s-70s, helped raise valuable funds for the Library. It was discovered with her other sewing items after her death, and Lynne Pointer arranged for her friend Ruth Tiddy, from Sheffield to finish it. It was purchased by Emma Bridgewater at the 2014 ‘Grand Auction’ that raised funds to support Bampton Library.

Molly Dunbar who lived in Bushey Row, helped with quilting for Sobell House Hospice, and unfortunately later died in that institution herself.

Molly Rose OBE, it seemed this indomitable woman, who died in 2016, not only flew Spitfires and 38 other types of aircraft during the Second World War but was also a quilter. A member of the ‘Bush Club’ told me of the double quilt Molly had made for herself whilst living at Bampton House.

Brenda Sapsford, for many years Secretary to the Parish Council. Judith House tells how Brenda took some time quilting a lovely Wholecloth quilt for her daughter’s 25th wedding anniversary. But unfortunately the morning after she had completed the quilt she found a large hole towards the side where her German Shepherd had decided to chew! It was amazing as Brenda was just amused and not a bit cross but she and I then attempted to patch it up, but not very successfully.

Betty Smith, was a patchworker and quilter who lived in a farm in Weald and also ran a cake decorating business.

Among those who left Bampton to live elsewhere are the owners of the fabric shops that served the village. When Linda Kerswill bought the‘Cotton Club’ she was the third owner, in its second location, as the business had originally started in Rosemary Lane in 1986, where the photography shop is now located. It had already relocated to Bridge Street before Linda bought it and turned it into a specialised quilting shop, rather than a general material shop it had been before. Later she moved the shop to the ‘Abbey Properties Shop’, in the Market Square where it remained until its closure.

After Linda Kerswill had sold her shop and retired, Sharon Carter and her husband opened the ‘Folly Fabric’ quilting shop in the ‘Old Bakery’, now the location of the ‘new’ ‘Bampton Community Shop’ in Rosemary Lane. Unfortunately the closure of this shop just over three years ago marked the end of the specialist quilting shops in Bampton.

Susie Stakes, who lived at Valence Court, is a more recent quilter who left the village to be closer to her family. She was a member of Buttercross Quilters and specialised in making beautiful padded boxes which she primarily sold at Kelmscot Manor.

Kari Rossie, would have been part of this exhibition but has temporarily left the village due fire damage to her house. She is an active and accomplished quilter, having won awards in her native Norway. She was an early member of ’Buttercross Quilters’ and this photo of her with Pat Barratt (left) was taken at a Buttercross exhibition held in Bampton Town Hall Gallery in 1990.

Please note in the Visitor’s book any other Bampton based people we have missed.

A Bampton Community Archive publication.

First published January 2020 BCA-54 75 PLU £1.00 www.bamptonarchive.org

Grant aided by WODC